Air Compressor Auto Drain Noise

[crlogan]

My 60 gallon Quincy air compressor is equipped with an auto drain. Any of you that have worked with an auto drain before know having the loud blast occur every so often can be annoying or scare you if you're not used to it.

Has anyone found a good solution to muffle or silence an auto drain?

Thanks,
-Chris

 

[KCarGuy]

I set mine up to drain outside of the Garage. So all i hear now is a Click and a Hissing noise every 15 minutes.
Now it might scare the Hell out of my Neighbor...but thats just Funny.

 

[bosskong]

I put a 1/4" muffler on mine.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/SPEEDAIRE-Exhaust-Muffler-1A326?Pid=search

It's not completely silent, but it does keep it from scaring the **** out of everyone inside the house when the auto-drain kicks on. That one only cost me about $3, but Grainger also has some $8 or $9 "silencer" mufflers that might be quieter.

 

[Stuart in MN]

The little muffler bosskong posted is what you need. They do make a big difference in the noise and they're cheap.

 

[ScaldedDog]

I put mine on a timer so it only goes off 3 times in an hour, one hour per day. You could do that and set it to go off in the middle of the night, or some other time no one is around.

Mark

 

[hyisbm]

so how does this work? I don't have a auto drain, but I wouldn't mind finding ways of reducing the noise on my drain valve.

 

[Bronson]

I didnt know there was such a critter, how does it work? I need one!

 

[koditten]

You could put a ball valve down stream of the automatic valve. Pinch the valve down so not as much air comes out. You would only need the manual valve fully open if you have super high humidity and are using the compressor constantly. The pinched off valve is doing the same thing as the mufflers listed above are doing, just slowing down how fast the air moves out.

 

[mpire]

I drilled a hole in the wall and ran some leftover copper from the a/c install out the hole and away from the house. Sticks out a few inches, but its much quieter to have the discharge on the outside than the inside of the garage.

 

[ScaldedDog]

so how does this work? I don't have a auto drain, but I wouldn't mind finding ways of reducing the noise on my drain valve.

I didn't know there was such a critter, how does it work? I need one!

If these are directed at me...

I had an unused Intermatic plug-in timer, so I plugged it into the wall, and plugged the auto drain into it. I set it to turn on (energize the plug) at a certain time, and to turn off 40 minutes later. I set the auto drain to drain for 3 seconds every 15 minutes. When the plug is energized, the drain turns on for 2 seconds. It does so again after 15 and 30 minutes, then the timer effectively unplugs the drain after 40 minutes. The net is that it gets drained 9 seconds per day, which seem like plenty. If you're only in the garage on weekends, you could set it to just run on Monday's and save a little air/electricity.

Mark

 

[ScaldedDog]

You could put a ball valve down stream of the automatic valve. Pinch the valve down so not as much air comes out. You would only need the manual valve fully open if you have super high humidity and are using the compressor constantly. The pinched off valve is doing the same thing as the mufflers listed above are doing, just slowing down how fast the air moves out.

I didn't read your post 'till after replying to the others. I live at 5300ft, so I did this, too, in addition to the timer. It works pretty well.

Mark

 

[KCarGuy]

I use a IR Auto Drain system.
I made a Bracket and attached it Low, to one of the legs.
It runs on 110VAC.
Timer can be set to how often it turns on and how long.
(mine is every 30 minutes and for 20 seconds)

It pulls from the bottom drain and I have it exit outside.

 

[Milton Shaw]

Put a Briggs lawn mower muffler on the outlet, it really quietens them down. have the muffler pointing down so it drains water out. They are 1/2" pipe thread.

 

[daveroy]

Someone straighten me out here. If the drain is mounted higher than the bottom of the tank, doesn't that mean you are always leaving some in the tank (or at least the bottom tubing coming out to the auto drain? The main reason I haven't looked into one of these is because I didn't want to have to lift my compressor higher off the ground to make it clear.

Sorry for the (hopefully brief) hijack.

 

[warrend]

Do you guys ever shut them off or do you just let them run 24/7? I have been looking at auto drains, but the idea of it going off even when I'm not around makes me uncomfortable. I wouldn't want it to stick or fail and run the compressor continusly or something. Was thinking about connecting one to my light circuit if I get one. Plug is only energized when the lights are on...(I'm out there) otherwise the timer is off. Does anyone see why that would cause a problem?

 

[hyisbm]

there's a few DIY's on here about extending your drain valve for easier access. That's what I did and I just have to remember to manually release it every so often. It would just be nice if I could quiet it down a little when doing so.

I also leave my air compressor full and ready to go all the time. I do turn off the power switch in case there is a leak or something happens. That way the compressor won't turn on.

 

[torqueman2002]

I put a 1/4" muffler on mine.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/SPEEDAIRE-Exhaust-Muffler-1A326?Pid=search

It's not completely silent, but it does keep it from scaring the **** out of everyone .....

Thanks for the info.

I have an auto drain piped outside; like to scare my neighbor half to death though, when it goes off.

I ordered one from Amazon.

 

[Falcon67]

My plan is to route the drain out of the shop wall, turn 90 and go down into a 18" piece of capped 4" pipe filled with loose gravel. It'll sit in a small gavel pit, so I don't think I'll hear much.

 

[crlogan]

I've been playing around with these. http://www.alwitco.com/alwitco/our-products/atomuffler-series/air-exhaust-muffler.html. First tried the M05 and it's worked pretty well. You can find them on eBay for around $20.